Celebrities often appear to have it all; fame, wealth, stunning homes, and amazing material possessions. However, away from the cameras, their lives are not always as perfect as they seem. Just because people are famous, it does not mean they are immune to the struggles of life or that they do not suffer from physical or mental issues. One condition from which some celebrities have suffered is anorexia, and in some cases, being in the limelight has triggered or exacerbated this condition. While some celebrities continue to suffer from this eating disorder, there are others who have overcome the condition. Here are 20 celebrities who have overcome anorexia.

20. Jessica Alba

One celebrity who has overcome anorexia is actress Jessica Alba. According to Female First, the actress suffered from an eating disorder during the early years of her career. As she hit puberty and developed the natural curves for which she is known, Alba began to attract unwanted attention from men. It made her feel ashamed, and she wanted to get rid of her curvy figure, so she stopped eating. The situation got worse when she became an actress as she did not enjoy the attention.

19. Taylor Swift

Like many celebrities with eating disorders, it was negative comments in the media that led to Taylor Swift developing anorexia. She also suffered from hypergymnasia, which is also known as exercise anorexia. At one point, the singer had dropped to a size 00. Now, she is a size 6, and she feels confident about her body. She has learned to accept herself and realizes that how she looked before is not how her body should look. Swift realizes that feeling like you are going to pass out from hunger in the shower is not a healthy way to live.

18. Troian Bellisario

Actress Troian Bellisario is best known for her role in ‘Pretty Little Liars,’ although she has had many television and film roles. She had revealed that when she was in her teens, she started withholding food as a way of self-harming and punishing herself. She felt under a lot of pressure as the youngest daughter in her family, which was exacerbated by attending an intense college prep school. The actress felt under pressure to be perfect in every way to please her parents and everybody else.

17. Lily Collins

Lily Colling first opened up about her eating disorders after art reflected reality. The actress played a character battling anorexia in the 2017 film ‘To the Bone’. She admitted that she had suffered from eating disorders for years, and it involved starving herself, binge eating, and taking various diet pills and laxatives. Collins decided to speak out because so many young people experience these issues and feel too ashamed to admit they need help. She has now embraced her past and accepted that it does not define the person she is today.

16. Ginger Zee

Ginger Zee, a television personality and chief meteorologist for ABC News struggled with her body image during adolescence. She has said that she was at the height of anorexia between the ages of 10 and 14. Zee, who competed in ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ credits her stepfather for getting her through that difficult period in her life. She says that he taught her about nutrition and about learning to love herself.

15. Shawn Johnson East

Sportspeople are also susceptible to suffering from eating disorders, despite most following a healthy diet and lifestyle to improve their athletic prowess. Gymnast and Olympic gold medallist Shawn Johnson East had a strong body that was powerful and muscly. In her opinion, people wanted her to be thinner, and the only way she knew how to do this was to reduce her food intake. In an interview with People, she admitted that her issues began at the age of 12 and that she would often limit her intake to no more than 700 calories a day. The gymnast also completely removed carbohydrates from her diet.

14. Ireland Baldwin

Model Ireland Baldwin, the daughter of Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin, shared snippets of her anorexia past on her Instagram Story, including photographs of herself while she was suffering from the eating disorder. She said that she had faced a long battle to find self-love and acceptance. In addition to her modeling career, Baldwin has also dabbled in acting. In 2013, she played a younger version of her real-life mother’s character in the film ‘Grudge Match.’

13. Hilaria Baldwin

Hilaria Baldwin, Ireland Bladwin’s stepmother, has experienced similar issues to her stepdaughter. She has described growing up with an eating disorder and how she helped herself to overcome anorexia with health, wellness, and yoga. Baldwin is now a mom of six young children and has said that when she was younger, she would not have coped with the physical changes that pregnancy made to her body.

12. Alyson Stoner

Actress Alyson Stoner possibly began suffering from anorexia because she was in the limelight, but it was also her fame that helped her to realize she needed help. The former child star began turning up for auditions, and the casting directors refused to let her start reading her lines. They were so horrified by Stoner’s sunken eyes, gaunt body, and lifeless appearance that they would send the young actress home, telling her she needed to sort out her health. In 2011, when she was 17 years old, Stoner was hospitalized for eating disorder rehabilitation.

11. Kesha

Kesha’s troubles with anorexia have been well-documented. It is an issue she has spoken openly about since 2015, a year after she was admitted into a rehab program for eating disorders. During her darkest times, she started to view hunger to the point of fainting as being a positive thing. The worse her anorexia got, the more positive feedback she received about her appearance, and it encouraged her to continue with destructive eating behaviors, which made her physical and emotional condition worse. Anorexia is not the only struggle the singer has faced in life. She has also had a legal battle with her record label, and there were allegations that she had sexually assaulted Dr. Luke.

10. Jackie Goldschneider

Jacki Goldschneider is one of the stars of the reality television series ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey.’ She discussed her battle with anorexia in an interview with People in 2018. Every aspect of her life focused on diet and exercise, as she weighed every item she ate, worked out even when she was unwell, and learned tactics to deal with hunger without eating. Goldschneider’s fear of weight gain and her obsessive behavior lasted more than a decade before she realized that she may die and got herself the help she needed.

9. Demi Lovato

Singer Demi Lovato has suffered from both anorexia and bulimia. The star has also had phases of self-harming and was admitted into rehab for alcohol issues. Lovato’s issues began at the age of eight. Although she went on to overcome her issues when she was in a stable relationship, they returned when the relationship ended. Currently, the singer is living a healthy and sober lifestyle.

8. Tess Holliday

There is a misconception that a person is only considered anorexic if they are significantly below the healthy weight range for their height. That is not true, as anorexia is a much more complex eating disorder than this simplified explanation. It is about a persona developing unhealthy and destructive eating habits, often due to body dysmorphia and a lack of self-esteem. A prime example is Tess Holiday, who revealed that she is anorexic and in recovery to her Instagram fans. She asked that people stop making comments about other people’s weight, including praising someone and saying they look healthy after weight loss.

7. Christina Ricci

The Recovery Village says that Christina Ricci’s struggle with anorexia first became public when the young actress began her recovery at the age of 14. Allegedly, Ricci used her experience of having an eating disorder to challenge herself to be more honest. She has since talked openly about her experiences on talk shows. Ricci is known for playing Wednesday Addams in the ‘Addams Family’ films, as well as having roles in films such as ‘Pan Am,’ ‘Monster,’ ‘Penelope,’ ‘After Life,’ ‘Distorted,’ ‘Mothers and Daughters,’ ‘The Gathering,’ and ‘The Matrix Resurrections.’

6. Jade Thirlwall

Jade Thirlwall, a member of the girl group Little Mix, has battled anorexia and has described it as her dark secret. The singer saw controlling her diet as a way of controlling her life. She got to the point where her face was gaunt, her ribs were sticking out, and she had to wear baggy clothes to conceal her thin frame. Her health had suffered so badly that a doctor told her she would die if she did not start eating a healthy, balanced diet.

5. Mary-Kate Olsen

Mary-Kate Olsen’s publicist revealed in 2004 that she was receiving treatment for anorexia as that it was a challenge she knew she needed to face. Her twin sister, Ashley Olsen, also spoke on behalf of Mary-Kate, saying that she needed to take some time to concentrate on her health. However, Maty-Kate Olsen has never personally spoken about her battle with anorexia.

4. Portia de Rossi

Portia de Rossi began modeling as a preteen, and this stage of her life also marked the beginning of her battle with both anorexia and bulimia. From the age of 12, she would starve herself every day, sometimes consuming as little as 300 calories daily. When a modeling job was over, she would binge and purge. It was a pattern that continued into adulthood, including the four years that she had a role in the legal series ‘Ally McBeal.’ De Rossi, who is married to Ellen DeGeneres, has blamed low self-esteem as a result of working in a looks-oriented industry as the cause of her health issues.

3. Jameela Jamil

Actress Jameela Jamil, known for her role in ‘The Good Place,’ is an advocate and activist for body positivity. However, the actress has faced her own struggles regarding body image. Jamil claims that her problems began following an incident at school. The students were told to weigh themselves in front of each other during a math lesson. Jamil was the heaviest girl in her year, and the other girls made fun of her. It led to Jameela Jamil developing body dysmorphia and anorexia by the time she was 14.

2. Zoe Kravitz

Zoe Kravitz, daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet, claims that her battle against anorexia and bulimia began when she was in her teens. In her opinion, being surrounded by fame and the pressures to look good were the causes of her issues. While at high school, she felt pressured to maintain a certain standard in her appearance. Even when her rib cage was sticking out, Kravitz was convinced that she needed to continue losing weight. The actress played an anorexic character in a movie, and this coincided with Kravitz hitting an all-time low when her immune system shut down and she was severely malnourished. Within months, she had turned her life around.

1. Hilary Duff

Prevention lists Hilary Duff as a celebrity who has overcome anorexia. She first developed the eating disorder in her teens and was at the height of her problems at the age of 17. At that time, Duff weighed just 98 pounds, which is significantly below the healthy weight range for a woman of her age and height. The actress says that she became obsessed with everything she ate, and it took a toll on her physical health. Duff has since overcome anorexia and now lives a healthy lifestyle.

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